Chapter 9

Rayven ran swiftly through the vast back garden and came to halt in front of a tree. The tree was planted by her father in memory of her mother who passed away when she was ten. It had beautiful crimson and pink flowers. Their sweet scent filled the air around. She and her father came riding here every week, to speak to her, feel her presence. And two years later when her father died too, she still kept coming here in both their memory. She spoke to them about her day, her feelings, voice her fears and right now she needed them.

She stood under it staring at the open grassland beyond their home. She was so engrossed that she didn't notice Vergil come and stand next to her.

"That's a beautiful tree."

She turned to look at him and looked up to the tree. "My father planted it after my mother passed away."

"I am sorry to hear that." Vergil sympathized.

"It's alright. It's been years." She looked away; her heart had started to beat irregularly again.

Vergil stood leaning against the tree and said," So life growing up was tough, huh?"

She smiled and simply replied," Well, here...not so much. But before that was something different."

She sighed and continued," Any memory of my real parents is lost. The only parents I know are Jack and Nora. Not belonging to someone, not having someone to take care of you is hard to deal with when you are little."

Time went by and neither spoke for long. Vergil just looked back at her,wanting to ask her something, anything to get her to talk to him. So he asked her randomly, "What was it like growing up in the orphanage?"

She laughed wryly and replied," I don't remember a lot. But I do remember shifting from place to place. A little girl screaming in the middle of the night, waking everyone up and talking about demons is not really popular with the management. They just want to get rid of you. So I was shuffled everywhere."

"Don't have too many memories of each place though. The only place I truly remember is the last one."

"Why is that?" Vergil enquired.

"Because that was the first place where I met someone who I felt like I belonged to and who took care of me." She said sadly.

"Who was it?"Vergil asked. He was very interested in knowing her past. And also, he felt he would never get a chance to speak to her alone, so this was the moment. And he didn't want it to end.

"Another orphan. He was few years older than me. He saved me from this bully. He punched him and he was punished for doing so, sent into confinement. When he got out, he said he was planning to run away and asked me to go with him. For some reason, I trusted him. So we ran away."

Vergil couldn't believe it. Two children out on the street by themselves. Sure it must have been tough. She continued on, looking into blank space.

"We lived on the street, shared stolen food and squatted in empty homes. We were happy."

"But one day it all ended. The police chased us down, he escaped but I was caught and we were separated."

"I was adopted within the same week. I looked for the boy everywhere, urged my parents to search. But I never saw him again." she said sadly.

"What was his name? Maybe I can help." Vergil suggested. Hoping that it would give them a chance to interact further.

"I haven't thought about him in a while." she thought long and hard. She stressed her mind and finally looked up at Vergil and said, "Tony! I think his name was Tony."

Dante looked up in shock. 'So it is her.' he thought. He had followed Vergil and stayed at the back the whole time. He heard her story and was reminded of his own experiences. This was the same nameless girl from his childhood. How different their lives have turned out to be!

He came up ahead into view and they both turned to look at him. He hadn't planned on saying anything, so he said the first thing that came to his mind. "What are you two lovebirds up to?"

Vergil looked at him swiftly, his eyes laden with guilt. Rayven on the other hand, gave him a 'What the...' look and said," Lovebirds? Really?"

"Well, from what I know you do have a kinky streak."

"What?!"

"You have a thing for brothers. I know 'bout 'the Lists'" leaning close to her face he said as he smirked.

"I know 'bout a 'Hypocrite'." she tilted her head slightly and spat back.

Vergil walked away, not wanting to get in the middle of another war of words. Dante looked up to see him walk away and couldn't resist teasing her."I think he doesn't like to share. Too bad, huh?"

Rayven walked up to him and punched him in his face.

"Oww! See, I told you that, you would hit me." he said smiling through the pain.

"Yeah! And I said you might like it." she replied looking at him and turned to walk away.

He wiped away the little blood that seeped through his cut lip and said, "Damn Piggles! You pack quite the punch."

She turned around quickly and said, "Did you just say, Piggles?"

His eyes went wide in shock. He had not planned on revealing their past connection this way or this soon. He tried to think of something to say to cover up his blunder. But as he looked at her, his train of thought dissipated. The afternoon sun penetrated through the branches and made her hair shine, her eyes gleamed a rich green and his eyes kept focus on her luscious lips. 'She grew up pretty, …no beautiful." he thought.

Rayven kept staring back at him, waiting for a reply. It was this very moment that she paid full attention to his appearance. He had dark hair and blue sparkly eyes. His face looked different but he saw her the same way as he did almost twelve years ago. 'This can't be him.' she thought trying to convince herself. She saw every inch of his face, trying to find the face of the boy from her past but saw very little similarity. Her mind had forgotten most of him but as her eyes came to rest on the pendant in his neck, she remembered.

"You're Tony?!" she exclaimed in shock.

Dante avoided all eye contact, knowing he would give away the truth. But she moved closer to him, looking right at him, deep into his soul. Dante couldn't help but look back and he realized he was caught. He shook his head in agreement and gave a small smile. She smiled back in sheer joy. 'Wow! What a smile.' he thought. But soon her face changed into that of anger and she shoved him back with both her hands. Dante stepped backwards in imbalance and she pushed him again as she yelled," Do you know how much I searched for you?" she shoved him again.

"They thought I was insane!"

Dante tried to balance himself again but she used all her strength and shoved him once more in pure anger.

"How long have you known? Since the club?" she asked him ferociously.

"No! I just realized it when you were telling Vergil about it." Dante spoke defensively.

"And you didn't say anything?" she said while shoving him once more. But this time Dante held her hands firmly with his own. She tried to pull back but he held on tight.

"I didn't want us meet this way." he said through his teeth.

"News flash buddy! We already did. Three days ago." she spat.

He smirked, remembering that night, her eyes, her skin, her lips and said," Hell of a reunion, right?"

Rayven couldn't believe it; he was shoving 'the night' in her face. She tried to pull her hands back but he had a firm grip on them. So she did the next best thing, kneed him in the groin.

"Fuck! What was that for?" he winced in pain as he released her.

She just walked away towards the house, not wanting to deal with Dante or listen to any of his explanation. She just wanted to get away from him.

"Fuck!" Dante realizing his mistake ran behind her. He had lost her once; he didn't want to lose her again.

"Piggles! Wait!" he called after her.

"My name is Rayven." she yelled without looking back.

"Ok, 'Rayven'...could you just stop and talk to me." he pleaded.

"There's nothing to talk about."

"C'mon. Gimmi' a break. It's not like I always knew." he tried reasoning with her.

"No! But you knew now and still decided to keep quiet." she accused him.

"I told you, I didn't want to tell you this way." he said as he walked briskly behind her with the house coming into view.

"And how did you plan on telling me? With another drunk fuck?" she spat angrily.

"Sounds like a plan to me." he teased, trying to lighten the mood.

Rayven just turned around, ready to punch him again but he was quicker this time around and ducked away. She wanted to hurt him, make him feel miserable and her face still showed anger.

Dante couldn't help but smirk mischievously. 'She looked prettier when she was angry.' he thought as his eyes travelled from her eyes to her lips.

"Stop checking me out!" she yelled at him, slapping his arm.

Dante rubbed his arm and said," You really need to stop hitting me!"

She turned to walk away again but Dante grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

"Hey, it's not like I didn't look for you, alright. I looked everywhere I could. But you were gone." He tried reasoning with her, his eyes almost pleading.

She looked in his eyes and said," You promised that you'd never leave me."

Dante felt the pain in her heart and let her hand go. He had promised her that, he should have searched harder.

"I'm sorry, Piggles." he said with the same sorrow as her."I should have found you sooner."

He had searched for her everywhere, every facility possible. He even got himself caught by the police, hoping that she would be there, wherever they took him. But success evaded him. He still felt protective towards her. He couldn't believe he felt the same way as he did years ago.

As she looked up at him she realized that it didn't matter anymore. They had bigger issues to deal with. Mundus had ruined their past, they had to avenge their parents and petty bickering was not going to help.

"Truce?" she said, holding out her hand for a shake.

"Truce." Dante said taking her hand in his and giving it a good shake. They both started walking towards the house, neither knowing what their relationship could be called.

"And my name is Rayven." she said to him."If we are gonna work together then you better learn it."

He grinned at her and said, "Fine...'Rayven' it is. Does that mean we're ok?"

"Um hmm!"

"And you promise you won't hit me again, 'cos it really hurts." he asked sincerely.

She didn't reply but simply laughed.

"Fine, I'll let you do that in private." he suggested mischievously.

"Really?" she said teasingly.

"Sure." he said grinning as they walked forward."So, how do you think we should seal our deal?"

Rayven shook her head and gave him a stern look. He just kept looking at her with one of his eyebrows raised."With - How did you put it...'Another drunk fuck'?"

"Just when I thought you could talk like a normal person." Rayven complained.

"Well, you're the one who suggested it in the first place." He leaned into her ear and teased her," And from the other night, I think I have an idea of how you like it."

She hit him immediately and turned around towards the house, smiling as she walked. He walked behind her knew that he had got through to her finally.

"Rough, right?" he said from behind.

She stopped, turned around, gave him a sexy smirk as she held his head in her right hand and brought her lips to his ears and said,"You have no idea."

She moved away from him and just as she turned around said,"I also like it on top." smiling devilishly as she walked away, Dante doing the same as he followed her into the house.